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Library Instruction

Instruction Librarians

Most of the over 40 public services librarians at Washington State University provide library instruction to campus faculty, students, and staff. Librarians who are subject specialists and departmental liaisons offer instruction in their respective subject areas. Some librarians also teach the Libraries' Accessing Information for Research (UNIV 300) course, and in collaboration with the First-Year Focus and/or English Composition programs.

Ten librarians form the Library Instruction Team and have primary responsibility for the Library Instruction Program at WSU Pullman. Each of these librarians are ready to help meet your library instruction needs, including individual consultation sessions:

Library Class, Orientation and/or Tour Scheduling

Use this online form to schedule a library class, orientation session, or tour. The form will allow you to provide specific information about your assignment and what you would like the class to cover.

Partners Program

Partners Program - Learn more about the 8 WSU programs that collaborate with the Library Instruction Team

Directions to Team Office

What is Information Literacy?

Born out of the explosion of information world wide and in an effort to avoid datasmog, information literacy has become a central educational outcome in American education. In many respects, information literacy has come to comprehensively describe what instruction librarians do. Everyone is talking about information literacy, and yet it is a very complex term to define. Common definitions include:

"Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand." American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy (January 10, 1989, Washington, D.C.)

"the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information to become independent life-long learners" Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Criteria for Accreditation, Section 5.1.2 [Library and Other Information Resources] Services . 10th ed. Dec. 1996.

The Association of College and Research Libraries and Information Literacy at WSU

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education form the highest level outcomes for WSU's Information Literacy Program. ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA) whose primary aim is to enhance the use of libraries for teaching and research at the college level. The Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education are comprised of five standards with performance indicators and outcomes for each standard.

The Information Literacy Program Outcomes documents for the Library Instruction Team provide more detail about how specific learning outcomes are being assessed:

The Seven UCORE Learning Goals and Information Literacy

The Seven UCORE Learning Goals have been adopted by the University to enhance its mission of providing an outstanding undergraduate experience. The Library Instruction Team addresses the facilitation of goal four: Information Literacy. Library Instruction offers information literacy sessions in conjunction with partner programs. English Composition is a key collaborator; all English 101 classes work with Library Instruction to ensure that students receive basic training in scholarly research techniques. Library Instruction also works with the Roots of Contemporary Issues program in requiring each student taking HIST 105 or 305 to complete a series of online library research assignments and a culminating research paper.

Services

The Library Instruction Program at Washington State University is designed to create partnerships between library and academic department faculty to teach research skills to students from freshman through graduate levels. Instruction helps students become effective participants in the modern information world and to develop skills and concepts they will need to continue their education beyond their years at WSU. Library Instruction aims to help student researchers develop a broad understanding of skills and concepts related to the identification, location, retrieval, management, and presentation of information in an increasingly automated and networked environment. For more information, contact Corey Johnson or visit the library instruction homepage.

Course-Related Instruction

Library faculty offer classes designed for the specific informational needs of your course and your particular assignments. These library sessions can cover multiple concepts, including specific resources, searching techniques, evaluation of information, the research process, plagiarism, citing sources, and more. Most classes incorporate a hands-on element that allows your students to work directly with specialized resources during the class. Classes can take place in or outside of the Libraries' instructional classrooms.

Instructional Design Support

Library faculty can work with you to create or revise assignments that require use of library or other informational resources. Services can also include identifying information literacy learning outcomes attuned to the needs of your discipline and course, offering you with ideas for classroom activities, and providing you with the means to assess the information literacy skills of your students.

Information Architecture

Designing or updating a Web-based or distance course? We can work with you to help design online components that incorporate information literacy elements and assessment. We can also work with you in identifying appropriate electronic resources for your students.

Interdisciplinary Project Teams

Have a class that crosses disciplines? The Libraries can create an interdisciplinary project team of subject specialist librarians to work with you and your students to ensure that students become knowledgeable about resources and information issues outside of their own subject area.

General Interest Workshops

The Libraries periodically offer campus, discipline, or department-wide classes focusing on a particular area. Library Instruction's Classes on Demand program features a wide array of workshop offerings.

Services for Global Campus Students

Library Instruction Update

A regular series of presentations covering information literacy issues, open to the entire WSU community.

Resources

Library Class, Orientation and/or Tour Scheduling

Use this online form to schedule a library class, orientation session, or tour. The form will allow you to provide specific information about your assignment and what you would like the class to cover.

Library Instruction Evaluation Form

Credit-Bearing Course Offerings

About UNIV (UCOLLEGE) 300

UNIV (UCOLLEGE) 300, Accessing Information for Research, is a one-credit course offered as a cooperative effort between the University College and the WSU Libraries. All sections provide a small-class environment and are taught exclusively by library faculty members. The course is designed to aid students in understanding the components of the modern "information landscape" including scholarly communication and the Internet. Students also learn important concepts and skills related to information access and evaluation. Since its inception in 1995, the UNIV (UCOLLEGE) 300 program has grown to encompass many discipline specific and distance education sections.

Librarian Contacts and Your Class Information

UNIV (UCOLLEGE) 300, Section 01, Spring 2014

Monday and Wednesday from 2:10 - 3:00; First eight weeks of the semester only (Jan 12- Mar 04)

We serve a variety of programs, faculty, and students at different levels of scholarship. Our mission is to teach library users how to access, retrieve, evaluate, use and enjoy information sources in the creation of new knowledge. As academic communities confront the information age, library instruction at Washington State University aims to be responsive to cultural, technological and curricular change in the University, and to the variant skills and comfort levels of the University's library users. In all of these endeavors, librarians model the pursuit of knowledge and impart skills and enthusiasm for learning through excellent teaching. Library faculty collaborate with University faculty and campus partner programs in this mission.